How do you connect with your communities? With so many political changes and social challenges, it can be easy to disconnect from one another. Strengthening community ties helps us to organize for the change we want to see.

Join Jane Addams Hull-House Museum for a bookbinding workshop led by featured Hull-House artist Regin Igloria, founder of North Branch Projects, an organization that approaches community building through bookbinding practices, collective story writing and community archiving. In the workshop, book-making is a learning tool for slowing down, finding voice, sharing stories and connecting with one another. Your participation will become a collection of voices that create a neighborhood archive, offering a glimpse into the values that are important to you and your neighbors. The workshop is inspired by the work of Hull-House co-founder Ellen Gates Starr (1859—1940) who established the Hull-House Bookbindery (ca.1899) and advocated for fair labor and union organizing. Ten books bound by Starr and Igloria’s project “Everything on Wheels“ is featured in the current exhibition, Participatory Arts: Crafting Social Change on view through May 3, 2019.

FREE WITH RSVP! REFRESHMENTS SERVED! All ages welcome with supervision. Be ready to slow down, make books together, share food and conversation, and enjoy! No prior experience necessary. Workshops involve the use of needles and thread. All backgrounds and abilities welcome! Workshops are located in Hull-House’s historic Resident’s Dinning Hall that is wheelchair accessible.

Featured Artist and Community Partner
Regin Igloria is a multi-disciplinary artist and bookbinder from Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood. His studio community fosters an open approach to sharing work with new audiences and encourages collaboration and integration. Igloria is also the founder of North Branch Projects (NBP), an independent, artist-run project that offers community-based bookbinding and provides outlets for exploring the creative process in places where few resources exist for the arts. Through his art, he uses bookbinding to encourage dialogue between people in an inclusive setting, making it possible for ideas to have a positive impact on society.

North Branch Projects (NBP) uses the book arts as a community organizing tool. NBP was founded 2010 and was originally located in the business district of the Albany Park neighborhood. The Lawrence Avenue storefront occupied 1500 square feet with exhibition and studio rental spaces located in the rear. With overhead costs preventing the continuation and progress of the project, the move to make North Branch Projects more mobile became a necessity. The storefront closed in November 2014 and now operates on a pop-up basis, with the Everything on Wheels project leading the charge. NBP participates in local street festivals throughout the year and continues to provide workshops and classes.

Participatory Arts: Crafting Social Change at Hull-House is part of Art Design Chicago, an initiative of the Terra Foundation for American Art exploring Chicago’s art and design legacy, with presenting partner The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. Participatory Arts is funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art and The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. The Chicago Community Trust has also provided generous support.

Official Website

More events on this date

Tags: Art Design Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, near west side, North Branch Projects, Participatory Arts: Crafting Social Change, Regin Igloria, Resident's Dining Hall, What Binds Your Community? Participatory Arts Bookbinding Workshop